Rich Kao

If you've been around internet gurus lately, you may have picked up one of the new phrases emerging..."it's all about the cloud," meaning the information of the information-digital age is being stored in the "cloud." This is to say, as storage and hardware capacities have become a fading issue thanks to the mega-data centers provided by the likes of Google (whoever heard of having 1 gb of online storage and never deleting e-mails? Google pioneered it!), everything is now being stored, and thus accessible in the "cloud."

Well, the power of the cloud has become personal and real to me in recent days. I've come to realize I can leverage the power of the cloud by writing, collating and publishing on the web things I'm learning, and that there is a form of training, cross-pollinating and equipping that transpires from this.

How did I come to this thought? By realizing that I've been equipped, sharpened and trained by the things that people have written in the digital medium. Training in the cloud can work! In fact, the reach of using the cloud is beyond classrooms and sanctuaries. It can be quite widespread.

This is all an exciting notion to me for several reasons...

1) I can actually use this medium to train people - whether I know them or not (my notes aren't just stuff in my file cabinet now);

2) This is a medium for personal growth, forcing me to think and write in a rigorous way again; like in college and grad school; I like that!;

3) It's a way for me to catch the power of my dad's passion and profession; he's a famous economic writer and thinker and written dozens of books and hundreds of essays/article. I asked him one time why he likes writing so much (a weakness of mine). He said something I never forgot: "Because your writing will outlast your life."

Wow. We're talking legacy. We're talking impact beyond our natural years. We're talking why God gave us his truth in printed form (the bible). But up to this point, I've never known how to leverage the power of writing like my Dad has. Now I do! By using the cloud for purposes greater than just blogging my latest non-thought, I can actually use it for a more noble purpose...to irrigate, influence, trigger, seed, and yes maybe even equip others in their thinking and practices for Jesus.

Wouldn't that be neat?